KARACHI: Stocks extended the spectacular rally to the second day of the week as the KSE-100 index added 492 points, or 1.1 per cent, to close at 46,868 on Tuesday.

The bulls appear to have pushed back the bears into hibernation, so that in just the first two days of the week, the index recovered 1,059 points, which is almost the entire loss it had suffered the previous week.

Increase in home remittances, growth in cement and automobile sales and local companies gaining foothold in international markets elated investor confidence. The index got off to a positive start and surged to intraday high by 509 points. It pulled back slightly in the last hour of trading.

Sector-wise, cements continued to hold sway for the third day in a row with its biggest scrip Lucky Cement leading the gainers and contributing 115 points to the index. Other scrips that saw brisk trading on the sector included Maple Leaf and D.G. Khan Cement. Banking sector saw MCB Bank up by 2.6pc. HBL gained 2.3pc as investors anticipate healthy results on Wednesday.

The second index-heavy sector Exploration & Production also saw major scrips OGDC and PPL in the green as international oil prices jumped to over year’s high. Selected shares on the technology sector maintained upward trajectory including Netsol, Systems and TRG.

Fertiliser scrips also turned green while power producers remained subdued. Scrips that contributed the most to the index included Lucky Cement, HBL, MCB, TRG and Engro.

Foreign investors stood aside while major buying of stocks worth $3.74m was done by the mutual funds to meet the assets allocation to equity criteria. The liquidity in the market was provided by insurance companies that sold shares of $3.98m.

The trading volume increased 6pc over the previous day to 514.2m shares. HUMNL, TELE, MLCF, TRG and WTL formed 38pc of the total turnover.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2021